Sing the Sorrow
by Ryetsei
Summary: Beginning with a moment of bliss, it would seem that all is finally right with Naruto's life And yet, how long will this moment peace truly last, before tragedy strikes...?


**Chapter 1: Miseria Cantare**

"Ah...So lucky, it's a beautiful day!" Naruto cried, in high spirits even though it was so early in the morning- For whatever reason, seeing the first slivers of the golden dawn exhilarated the golden-haired boy, as he stood observing it through his fogged window. Taking in a deep breath, he wasn't fazed in the slightest when the full light of the sun hit him straight on in the face, reflecting almost perfectly in the deep blue of his eyes. Stretching his arms over his head, he didn't even bother to throw on his usual orange jacket before he began the walk down from his house to the street outside, however cold and crisp the weather may have been. Tying his Konoha band around his forehead as he walked down his stairs, he let out a rather loud yawn as he reached the front door, before opening it and basking in the sun's glow as it now lay fully visible. Walking down the street, the boy barely felt the cold biting at his uncovered arms as he made his way to Ichiraku as fast as possible- Sure, it was still relatively early in the morning, but that didn't mean that it wasn't the right time for some Ramen!

_And, with Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin off on their mission, I'm free to do whatever I want until they get back! No rules, no missions to take on, just some alone time with my rame-_ All thoughts halting along with the boy's progress down the street, his eyes were immediately encompassed by the only thing left to keep him from becoming bored in the village. Sure, in retrospect, a week of ramen might not seem bad in any way. However, at the same time, he probably wouldn't last too long without her to look at…Not that that wasn't creepy when he thought about it like that, but the thought was dismissed almost immediately. Looking at her now, without her even noticing, it was almost as if the morning sun somehow amplified her already beautiful features, most noticeably those brilliant eyes…

"N-Naruto…?" came her voice, sweet as honey to his ears as it echoed around the empty village. At that moment, there was just the two of them standing there together…Aside from the distance of about 20 meters; it seemed almost like a dream to the shinobi, still in a daze as he looked upon her. All the way from her vibrant hair, down past her blushing cheeks and even to her black tabi, the toes of which positioned awkwardly, as they always seemed to be. Sakura once made some sort of comment about that once, that she only did that around Naruto, but he'd never understood exactly what she meant by it.

"Naruto, are you- are you okay…? You aren't m-moving…" Came her voice once more, as Naruto finally shook himself from the trance she seemed to put him in whenever he saw her these days, no matter where he was. Looking up and deep into her eyes of pure white, beholding Hinata Hyuuga every day like this was exactly what kept him from **actually** eating ramen three times a day, every day. However, he had to make sure to actually say something at one point or another, and now seemed a good a time as any.

"Oh…Hey, Hinata! What's going on with you- I mean, if you don't want to tell me, you don't have t-" Naruto began, only to stop at a wave from the girl, and a quick chuckle escaping from her lips. Surprised, Naruto's mouth immediately shut, which anyone who constantly hung around with him would tell you did not happen nearly often enough. At least Hinata was finally breaking out of her shell, though, actually laughing and talking to him. Why, if he didn't know any better, he might've said that she was actually starting to...

"_I'm completely and totally in love with you!"_ Well, that was an interesting way of looking at things. Even if she was talking to him, though, Naruto doubted she would find the courage to say something like that to him for a long time.

"Oh…I'm doing quite well, actually, just walking around." She replied, hands clasped together just in front of her waist, as she cocked her head to the side. As she did, Naruto couldn't but feel again that this was something she only did around him, but dismissed it quickly- if she really did, he was damned glad for it, because he couldn't help but love it when she did. Looking on with nothing but what seemed at the time to be sheer adoration, he picked up the slow reddening in the cheeks of the Hyuuga clan's heir rather quickly. Smiling as he saw her look away, obviously embarrassed that the genin had noticed her, she slowly began to back away from him as she stumbled for her words.

"Oh…well, I have a mission to get to, and…well, I really should be going before…I mean, Lady Hokage wouldn't want me to be…At least, I shouldn't be hanging around here, doing…you understand, right…?" she said, eyes scrambling to find something to focus on other than Naruto, though failing due to the still-slumbering nature of the humongous city. As a result, when they found the boy again, they were staring straight at the silver band across his forehead, as he now stood not more than a few inches away from her. Her entire face immediately took on the brightest shade of crimson possible for a human, or so she thought until Naruto placed the palm of his hand upon her forehead, just after brushing her bangs away.

"Are you feeling okay, Hinata? You look like you're running a pretty high fever, and you're red as a beet! I only hope I've got something…ah!" said the shinobi, reaching into his bright orange pants, fumbling around in his pocket only for a couple of seconds before his eyes lit up, having found exactly what he was looking for. Retrieving a small bottle of pills from his pocket, he offered it up to Hinata with a smile that stretched across his entire face, temporarily disguising even the three whisker marks on each side of his face. Eyes almost completely shut, his squinting made him look almost exactly like the fox held deep within him for a split second, before his eyes were opened as wide as they possibly could be. Instantly silenced, the bottle of medicine toppled to the ground beneath him with a faint sound of glass hitting the paved road below, though it did not shatter, in fact did not even crack. Letting out a near-silent moan, Naruto's eyes remained wide as he felt Hinata's soft lips pressed against his, her arms folded behind his head as she practically attacked him, and he was the very last to tell her off. Closing his eyes once more, softly, he wrapped his arms around her waist to form a soft embrace, both of their cheeks completely red. Separating what felt like lifetimes later, Hinata's tongue quickly withdrew into her own mouth as she stared down into Naruto's eyes. With a quick yelp, she looked down to see that he had lifted her legs, wrapped them around his waist and began to kiss her again as he walked back towards his house. Opening the door, Naruto reached into his pocket just once more to retrieve a small sign from his pocket, complete with a loop of string that he wrapped quickly around a nail in his door, skillfully without stopping his kiss for a second. As he entered his house, he let out a muffled chuckle as he shut the door, sending the 'Do not Disturb' sign so recently placed flying off of its perch.

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"Fucking hell!" Cried Tsunade, her fist causing a resounding shock as it tore through the wall of the Hokage tower, shivering with the force it still carried. Vision marred by her blonde bangs, her head hanging downwards in sorrow. Darting across the room, she tore through another wall, than another, doing her best to avoid the cowering figure of Shizune in the corner, eyes filled with salty tears. Letting out a loud cry, the only thing left in her chamber by the time her rage had subsided was her desk, covered in her paperwork, yet only one sheet of the white paper lay face-up. Falling to her knees, the older woman could bare to look at it no longer, and so only continued her mindless destruction upon the reinforced floor of the tallest building in the leaf village. Not even looking up as two Jounin attendants rushed into the room, weapons at the ready, she only pointed a long, red-painted fingernail at the sheet of paper on her desk. Walking towards it, one of the jounin held it aloft so both could read it- However, it quickly burst into minuscule shreds of paper, as the jounin holding it turned away, clenching a tight fist as he left the room.

"How are we going to tell him, then…" Tsunade muttered, catching the attention of the still remaining Jounin attendant, who turned to look at the fallen hokage. She immediately leaped to her feet, then, grabbing the shinobi by the scruff of his neck, holding him aloft as a stream of tears fell to the ground.

"**How the fuck are we going to tell Naruto?!**" throwing the man to the floor, Tsunade ran through the double doors as fast as he could, as shreds of the fallen paper feel to the ground, each with its own part of the message:

'_Report of Failure: Mission 163-49726200-33721, acting shinobi Hatake Kakashi, Sannin Jiraiya. Failed infiltration of Hidden Rain Village resulted in capture by enemy operatives, and torture to obtain village secrets. Subjects considered missing for 5 days before discovery. Carcasses discovered upon Fire/Water country borders, between transports, neither showing any vital signs._

_-Both subjects were declared KIA at 3:00 hours.'_


End file.
